The World Bank has said consistency and improved exposure to internet and other related online materials brought down the rate of poverty by 7% in Nigeria. The bank disclosed this in a new brief themed, “Digital transformation drives development in Africa.”
According to the brief, “In 2023, a World Bank flagship report found that in Nigeria and Tanzania, extreme poverty declined by about seven per cent after three or more years of exposure to internet coverage, while labour force participation and wage employment increased by up to eight per cent.”
Also, the brief highlighted the incredible increase of internet users in sub-Saharan Africa by 115% in five years.
It added, “The region’s digital infrastructure coverage, access, and quality still lag other regions. At the end of 2021, while 84 per cent of people in SSA lived in areas where 3G service was available, and 63 per cent had access to 4G mobile coverage, only 22 per cent were using mobile internet services.
“The gap between coverage and usage is similarly large for broadband, with 61 per cent of people in sub-Saharan Africa living within the broadband range but not using it.”
